When I grew up rural it was equated with being deprived. A country bumpkin less than best, automatically so. How could you be better than those who lived in town? Your bus ride to school included fellow students who didn’t bathe daily, especially in the winter, although their farm chores remained in place. Indoor plumbing […]
Meetinghouse
Posted inMeetinghouse, Op-Eds, Opinion
Maine Voices: Study the past to know what we should do next
The tragic history of racism in America contains some heroes that we can follow.
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Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Peter Vose, Falmouth: We can’t forget the simple pleasures in this pandemic
“I am sick of looking on the bright side!” Thus spoke one of my daughters after being admonished to do just that in the wake of some childhood disappointment. Now all of us are too exhausted by the pandemic’s legacy of loss and anxiety to search for the bright side or even to believe it exists. […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Gail Caiazzo, Saco: Snowbird finds her heart stays in Maine
In July 1951, our family moved to Maine from New York. Even though not quite 6 years old, I would never actually be a true Mainer, according to those fortunate enough to be born here. Living in Buckfield, Maine, was quite a shock. Going to a one-room schoolhouse with attached outhouses took some getting used […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Lee Van Dyke, Portland: A visit from the past is one benefit of aging
Amid an urge to hang on to a dream, I spill out into the night saying, “How great!” She says, “I’m sleeping.” It’s warm and soft and dark under the covers, but off I go. I limp downstairs in the dark to a cold thermostat, and up it goes from the 50s. Temperature wasn’t 55 quite, […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Jody Rich, Waterville: Sitting separately, savoring the same dishes
Al Roker had just signed off from the Macy’s Day Parade. Ro and I stood for a stretch. “Is that a car in our driveway?” “Oh! It’s Deb!” We were expecting some potatoes. We had delivered portions of the annually requested shrimp and grits, and creamed onions, the day before to her, to Niece Elise, […]
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Anne Holliday Abbott, Portland: Surprise – it’s the president
It was 1965 and a late fall afternoon in the Hill Country of Texas when a surprise visitor dropped into the newsroom of The College Star, on the second floor of Old Main, a majestic, Victorian Gothic style building on the campus of Southwest Texas State College in San Marcos. That afternoon the newsroom was […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Kym Dakin, Yarmouth: Stomping and roaring away from an unwelcome surprise
It’s the dawn of a new millennium. My daughter Skyler is 3. I’m … a lot older than that. And there we were at the kitchen table on a snowy morning mastering the art of Monster Feet. The day before, we had just seen the movie “Monsters Inc.,” so Sky was pretty charged up about […]
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Carole Cochran, Boothbay Harbor: Lights, camera – minus a few of the amenities
We were asked by my brother-in-law, a film producer in California, to be in a river trip movie on the West Coast. It was to be sponsored and paid for by a national river rafting company. Not having been on the Oregon coast, or on whitewater, or in a kayak, or in a movie, we […]
Posted inMeetinghouse, Opinion
Brenda E. Smith, Belfast: Turning the tables on the family prankster
My brother has a little unsolved mystery in his life. It has perplexed him for almost 25 years. I know the answer, but I won’t tell, and I hope you won’t either. In June 1995 he turned 40 years old. Back then, 40 was a dreaded milestone, a halfway marker in life. I wanted to […]